Working in a hospital prepares you for many situations. It’s a good thing for one Kentucky pedestrian that Austin and Logan Ray pay attention.

Austin, a recent Lipscomb grad, and Logan, a rising senior, were both members of the Bisons track and field team as well as pre-med majors at Lipscomb. Home in Louisville over the summer, they have been working at Louisville’s Kosair Children’s Hospital, Logan in the emergency room and Austin in the operating room, and studying for the MCAT exams.

Their work seems to be paying off.

On June 6, the Rays were involved in the life-saving process of a pedestrian who had gone into respiratory arrest on the side of the road.

“We were driving home from the hospital and noticed a guy on the ground and people running towards him,” Logan said. “We pulled over and ran over to see if we could help.

“He was having a seizure. A former nurse who happened to be on the scene put him into the rescue position (on his side to prevent choking on his own vomit) and someone called 911.”

At that point, a dire situation turned potentially deadly.

“He had a really shallow pulse and wasn’t breathing too well,” Logan said. “His respiratory system wasn’t circulating. We noticed he was going into full respiratory arrest and was almost completely purple in the face.

“We were fortunate to have a rescue mask in the car. We grabbed that and applied it while the nurse initiated the breaths. He would’ve gone into full cardiac arrest without the mask but by the time the ambulance got there he was breathing on his own.”

Applying their educations and training with quick thinking, Austin and Logan were able to keep a person in need alive. Not only are they thankful to have helped out another person, they were confident in their abilities.

“We’re trained to do this,” Logan said. “We know what to do and would do the same for anyone no matter where we happen to be. We are grateful that we were able to help out someone in need. Fortunately, we were in the right place at the right time.”